Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
by K.V.Wolfe
Summary: Could you remember as a child a world that came out of the dark-one that no one else could understand?


Payton's mother carried him to his bed and laid him down. As she pulled the covers over him, he glanced around his room. In a few moments, his room would be dark. A whole new world would surface and the room would not be the same. The toys he had gotten for his fifth birthday would become shapeless blobs. The floor would become a huge dark sea and the branches outside his window would become claws that would try to rip through the glass and grab him.

He wanted his Thomas the Tank Engine night-light, but it had broke in a war between the good guys and the bad. His mother kissed his forehead and wished him a good night. Payton whimpered and ask for a story, but his mother said it was too late. She gave him his favorite stuffed teddy bear, the only thing that did not change in the dark. Teddy was his companion and crime fighting side-kick. Teddy went with him everywhere and was never out of sight, not even in his dreams.

Payton hugged Teddy close as his mother turned out his light and closed the door. The hall way light pinched through the small crack under the door. Payton rolled over to face the light and pulled his cover up to his shoulders. He closed his eyes and prayed for good dreams. A click of the hall way light going out pulled Payton from his concentration. The light was gone and the room was dark.

Payton hugged Teddy tighter then he had before and looked around the room. There it was, the other world. The one full of monsters that hid in the closet and under the bed. The ones that eat your socks when your not watching and pull things into the darkest corner of the room. Payton held his breath and laid still. When the monsters come, he did not want them to see him.

He heart was racing. The monsters were going to show up anytime, but the room was still quiet. Payton took a deep breath and braced himself to slowly turn around. _Don't move_, Teddy told Payton without speaking. _It could be a trap_.

"I know. But, I have to see if they are here." Payton whispered to the lumpy old bear that sat in his arms. Payton turned his head around to look behind him. Before he could get a good look, one of his toys fell of a shelf. Payton jumped and pulled the covers over his head- the one place all children know it's safe. He clamped his eyes shut and held still.

_They seen us! _Teddy whispered. Payton said nothing as he listened to the noise of the floor boards creaking.

"Please be Mummy, please be mummy," Payton chanted to himself. But when the floor boards went silent, Mummy was not there. He needed his mother. She could always make the bad things go away. She was not scared. But Payton was very frightened. "I need to get Mummy," Payton whispered to Teddy.

_But the monsters will get you._

"I cant sleep, I'm too scared."

_Call her! _

"The monsters will know where I am. They will get me before mummy hears me."

Payton hugged Teddy to his chest and gripped the covers. "If I run, I can get away," Payton said. He braced himself for a few moments, then threw back the covers and stood out of bed. As soon as his feet hit the floor Payton was frozen to his spot. The claws outside his window were there waiting for him.

"Teddy, it was a trick!" Just like a scene out of his favorite Tim Burton movie, the claws came to life and started scratching at his window.

_We have to hide _Teddy insisted. But where could a young boy and his bear hide? His closet was full of monsters and the space beneath his bed was a whole nother nightmare. The claws where getting closer, they would never make it to the door. Payton wanted to crawl back into bed and curl up under the covers, but if he did, he knew he would never come back out; trapped there for many long hours.

But that is what he need- the cover. Your always save in your covers. Payton turned around and grabbed the cover off his bed. He wrapped it around himself and Teddy and dove under the bed. He held still and looked around. He could see his room all around him, but he knew he was not in his room anymore. When the claws started to scratch at his window again, Payton held still and prayed that nothing would reach out and touch him.

_The door is right there_, said Teddy. _Let's get out of here! _Payton looked at the door then back at the claws. They seemed bigger then they were before. This scared him, but he knew if he could get to the door, the claws could not get him. He would be on the other side of the room and have the bed with it's own whole world under it between them. _We have to go now_, said Teddy. Payton crawled out from under then bed and ran to the door. The sound of one his toys moving across the floor caught his attention. Payton looked for the movement, but he could not see anything. Whatever toy it was, was now lost under the bed. But now the noise was the sound of foot steps coming toward him. The claw started scratching at his window again.

_We're trapped! _said Teddy. Payton backed against the wall and pulled the covers around him tighter. The claw was trying to get him, he could not go near the bed because the monsters under there were awake, and he could not get to his mother because there were monsters outside his door. There was no place to hide and he was trapped in the spot in which he sat because the closet monsters were awake now too. He had heard one of them thump against the door.

Payton hugged Teddy so tightly that the lumpy cotton in his belly separated. He tried to drown out the sound of the claws and the thumping and the sound of his door knob turning. All the monsters where closing in on him and he did not know what to do. So he screamed. He called out to his mother several times as loud as he could.

Payton's heart skipped a beat when a pair of hands touched his shoulder. Payton stopped screaming and looked up. The light was on and his mother stood in front of him. Payton got up and leaped into her arms. His mother rubbed his back and comforted him. She fought off the monsters. Mom to the rescue once again. She picked up Teddy and the blanket off the floor and walked to the bed. She laid Payton down withTeddy and covered them both.

His mother laid down beside him and rubbed his back. In his half-wake state, Payton told his mother what happened. Before he feel asleep, he heard her say, "Never be afraid of the dark. The monsters only want someone to play with."

End.


End file.
